I glanced over my shoulder to look at Ryan, and saw him meeting my gaze. He didn’t look so sinister anymore; instead his expression read complacency, which has the potential to be even worse.
As the groups of four began to assemble, I started towards the back of the room with my novel and notes in tow. I reached Ryan’s table and sat in the chair across from him, keeping my eyes focused on the notes. “Ready to start?” I asked, my soft voice seemingly lost among the disorder of the classroom.
“The Great Gatsby, right?” Ryan asked. His voice on the other hand, was deep and very clear.
“That’s the one” I replied, tossing him my paperback copy.
He caught the book, and quickly flipped it open to a page three quarters of the way in “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us” He recited, reading the quote with distinction. He looked up from the pages and smirked “been here, done that”
“You’ve read the book before?” I asked, finding myself pleasantly surprised.
“Twice” Ryan interjected, putting the book down in his lap and slouching deep into his seat.
So he likes to read… this didn’t exactly fit in with the character I pictured him to be, but the pieces were slowly starting to come together. A “Jess Mariano” type, I concluded. I had about a million questions floating through my mind, but due to the pretense of maintaining social normalcy, I was forced to excuse myself.
“So if you don’t need a briefing on the book, I guess I should leave you to it and find myself a group” I began gathering my notes. I held out my hand, gesturing for Ryan to hand me back my book, but he simply shook his head.
“Just stay. This way you don’t have to do any work for whole half of the class.” He smirked.
I smiled timidly in return and lowered my hand while sneaking a quick glance at Ryan’s face. At the same time he brushed his bangs to the side and looked back at me. His almond shaped eyes were a strange grey-green colour, with long, dark eyelashes. His exotic eyes seemed foreign to his plain face, I don’t know how I didn’t notice them before.
“So… Parker, right?” He asked, raising an eyebrow.
I hesitantly pulled my gaze from his eyes and nodded slightly. “That’s me” I said.
“So what’s your story?” He tilted his head to the left just slightly.
“Excuse me?”
“You know… your story. Name, where are you from, have any siblings, things you like, don’t like… That kind of stuff.” He coaxed.
“Hey, You’re the new kid… shouldn’t I be asking for your story?” I retaliated, finding some buried inner confidence “I mean come on… you come in here with a tough-guy persona, sit at the back of the class, with his whole aura of mystery surrounding you… All you’re missing is the leather Jacket.”
“Add in some baby oil & I’m your regular pony boy greaser.” He smiled. I laughed.
“My point exactly” I said. “But is that really who you are? Why’d you move here? Where were you before?” And so the questions came spilling out, and never seemed to stop. “Are any of the rumors about you true? What do-”
“How about we make a deal?” he interrupted. “Today… I ask all the questions, so when I go home & get asked ‘did you meet any new kids today honey?’ I can honestly answer with a yes” He reasoned. “Tomorrow, you can ask me anything”
“I guess that’ll work.” I replied. I glanced up at the clock and gauged the time “You have 40 minutes…” I informed him “Do your worst”.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Chapter 4
“Mitchell?” called Mr. Nichols.
“Here” the burly football player called from his seat, dead center of the room. His ipod was lazily draped from one ear, and the heavy bass of the rap song we was listening to was audible even from across the room.
Instead of lecturing us on the use of electronic devices in class, like he usually did, Mr. Nichols simply nodded absentmindedly, and proceeded down the attendance list. “Scarlet?”
“Here” responded the girl dressed in all black in the back of the room, sounding utterly bored.
“Where?” Mr. Nichols asked, scanning the room, clearly forgetting which student belonged to the name.
“Um, here…” Scarlet repeated, her expression hinting to her annoyance.
I couldn’t help but feel bad for my English teacher… he’s been flustered and vacant minded for a few weeks now, loosing all sense of charisma and energy. I’m assuming it’s all due to the fact that his wedding band has recently gone missing from his left hand… what was the story there?
“Okay ladies and gentlemen,” Mr. Nichols started once role call was taken. “Last night, your homework was to read chapters 3 – 5 in the ‘Great Gatsby’ and make notes on the character development of Nick Carra-” He was cut off by a quick rapping on the classroom door.
The attention of the entire room averted towards the door to see the school’s slightly pudgy principal standing there expectantly. Mr. Nichols swore quietly under his breath before composing his face and swinging the door open. The two men spoke under the doorframe in hushed tones as the class slowly lost interest. Students took advantage of the interruption and crossed the room to talk with their friends, momentarily ignoring the seating chart.
“Oh I know…” whispered one of the girls next to me to her friend “But who’s the guy in the corner?”
“I think he’s the new kid… the one Mel was talking about at lunch” her friend replied, “I hear he just got out of Juvie…”
I curiously looked at the two girls, following their gazes out into the hall. There, standing awkwardly behind the principal, was the dark haired boy I’d seen on Friday. I suppose I’d been right, he was a new student.
I watched him as he shifted his weight from side to side, looking impatiently at the principal. He rolled his eyes often at the words being exchanged, which made me wonder exactly what the principal was telling my English teacher. Seemingly bored with the ordeal, he glanced over Mr. Nichols shoulder and scanned the classroom. I quickly averted my eyes, for fear of being caught staring & I pretended to search for a page in my notebook.
“Alright everyone, party’s over, go back to your seats” Mr. Nichols ordered. The class collectively groaned as they shuffled back into order. I looked up, seeing the principal gone & the boy standing alone in the doorframe with hesitant eyes and a posture that would make any chiropractor cringe. “As you may have guessed, we have a new student today” Mr. Nichols began monotonously.
Every pair of eyes in the room turned towards the boy, quickly analyzing and scrutinizing while the teacher droned on about how we should be ‘very welcoming’ and the like. I watched him lean against the empty blackboard as every girl in the room was probably rating him on some fabricated datability scale, and every guy was sizing him up as either a possible friend, or possible competition.
He’s quite tall, trumping Mr. Nichols by far. His tousled dark hair fell over his ears, and in front of his eyes. His frame was lean, and hidden behind a simple black hoodie and worn in jeans. His skin was a soft caramel shade, and his expression slowly grew to a scowl. Scrutiny was clearly not boding well with him.
“Go ahead and sit wherever there’s an empty chair Ryan” Mr. Nichols concluded, putting a name to the mystery boy. Ryan nodded and made a beeline for the desk in the back row. Typical. He say down with a huff and never once returned anyone’s glares or even so much as cracked a nervous smile.
“As I was saying before,” Mr. Nichols said, continuing where he left off “You will be split into groups of 4, and given half of the class to compare and contrast your notes on the character development of Nick Carraway” His eyes quickly scanned the room and landed directly on me. “You…” Mr. Nichols struggled with my name
“Parker” I prompted
“Yes, Parker. You are doing quite well in this course, do you mind skipping out on this activity and filling our new student in on the novel we are studying?” he asked with no real opportunity for me to decline.
“Not a problem” I answered politely.
“Here” the burly football player called from his seat, dead center of the room. His ipod was lazily draped from one ear, and the heavy bass of the rap song we was listening to was audible even from across the room.
Instead of lecturing us on the use of electronic devices in class, like he usually did, Mr. Nichols simply nodded absentmindedly, and proceeded down the attendance list. “Scarlet?”
“Here” responded the girl dressed in all black in the back of the room, sounding utterly bored.
“Where?” Mr. Nichols asked, scanning the room, clearly forgetting which student belonged to the name.
“Um, here…” Scarlet repeated, her expression hinting to her annoyance.
I couldn’t help but feel bad for my English teacher… he’s been flustered and vacant minded for a few weeks now, loosing all sense of charisma and energy. I’m assuming it’s all due to the fact that his wedding band has recently gone missing from his left hand… what was the story there?
“Okay ladies and gentlemen,” Mr. Nichols started once role call was taken. “Last night, your homework was to read chapters 3 – 5 in the ‘Great Gatsby’ and make notes on the character development of Nick Carra-” He was cut off by a quick rapping on the classroom door.
The attention of the entire room averted towards the door to see the school’s slightly pudgy principal standing there expectantly. Mr. Nichols swore quietly under his breath before composing his face and swinging the door open. The two men spoke under the doorframe in hushed tones as the class slowly lost interest. Students took advantage of the interruption and crossed the room to talk with their friends, momentarily ignoring the seating chart.
“Oh I know…” whispered one of the girls next to me to her friend “But who’s the guy in the corner?”
“I think he’s the new kid… the one Mel was talking about at lunch” her friend replied, “I hear he just got out of Juvie…”
I curiously looked at the two girls, following their gazes out into the hall. There, standing awkwardly behind the principal, was the dark haired boy I’d seen on Friday. I suppose I’d been right, he was a new student.
I watched him as he shifted his weight from side to side, looking impatiently at the principal. He rolled his eyes often at the words being exchanged, which made me wonder exactly what the principal was telling my English teacher. Seemingly bored with the ordeal, he glanced over Mr. Nichols shoulder and scanned the classroom. I quickly averted my eyes, for fear of being caught staring & I pretended to search for a page in my notebook.
“Alright everyone, party’s over, go back to your seats” Mr. Nichols ordered. The class collectively groaned as they shuffled back into order. I looked up, seeing the principal gone & the boy standing alone in the doorframe with hesitant eyes and a posture that would make any chiropractor cringe. “As you may have guessed, we have a new student today” Mr. Nichols began monotonously.
Every pair of eyes in the room turned towards the boy, quickly analyzing and scrutinizing while the teacher droned on about how we should be ‘very welcoming’ and the like. I watched him lean against the empty blackboard as every girl in the room was probably rating him on some fabricated datability scale, and every guy was sizing him up as either a possible friend, or possible competition.
He’s quite tall, trumping Mr. Nichols by far. His tousled dark hair fell over his ears, and in front of his eyes. His frame was lean, and hidden behind a simple black hoodie and worn in jeans. His skin was a soft caramel shade, and his expression slowly grew to a scowl. Scrutiny was clearly not boding well with him.
“Go ahead and sit wherever there’s an empty chair Ryan” Mr. Nichols concluded, putting a name to the mystery boy. Ryan nodded and made a beeline for the desk in the back row. Typical. He say down with a huff and never once returned anyone’s glares or even so much as cracked a nervous smile.
“As I was saying before,” Mr. Nichols said, continuing where he left off “You will be split into groups of 4, and given half of the class to compare and contrast your notes on the character development of Nick Carraway” His eyes quickly scanned the room and landed directly on me. “You…” Mr. Nichols struggled with my name
“Parker” I prompted
“Yes, Parker. You are doing quite well in this course, do you mind skipping out on this activity and filling our new student in on the novel we are studying?” he asked with no real opportunity for me to decline.
“Not a problem” I answered politely.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)